The Bard's of Jarn

  During the construction of the alternate reality associated with the world I created in which to set my stories, it was important to review what rules and standards would govern the various races and professions. TSR and many other gamers had long ago done an excellent job of defining most of these but for my novels i needed a new world and so a few minor changes were made to most areas. For the Bard, however, I wanted a different and more special role.

In this new world, Bards would be special. Not only because I had chosen a bard as one of my main characters but because I wanted to tie in the magic wielded by dragons into the human races of world. It seemed strange that with so many of the great beasts around, none of their specialized power was sought for use by others. Therefore, I chose the Bard to relate to their magic.

Surely, there are countless minstrels and scalds in this world but wandering amongst them would be those very rare men and women that used dragon magic interleaved into their songs.

The Bards of Jarn, therefore, do not cast spells per se; instead they sing their Songs of Power. Bards do not carry spell books, nor do they pray to a deity to receive their Songs; rather, they memorize all their songs during their studies when an apprentice or at various colleges, and libraries. The songs are sought out by studying ancient texts, which include epic poems, Ballads, Lays, Rhymes and the like. Therefore, a Bard is always on the lookout for and will always seek to find and study any ancient books relating to history. After this initial memorizing, each day they simply choose which songs of Power they will use.

Also since they are few when compared with the total population, I felt that they should be able to have an association or guild and that there should be a place for persons to go to study. The Bards of Jarn are known for their tendency toward good but may be lawful, chaotic or neutral in nature. There are never evil Bards in this world!

It follows then that they do not ever behave as thieves as in the AD&D worlds. Rather, the Bard of Jarn is an able fighter and magic user but because of his constant wanderings in the world, he also possess some of the minor abilities sometimes associated with Druids. Now, it becomes obvious why Bards are human, elven or of half-elven ancestry.
 

Finally, the Bard of Jarn really relates to dragons. It may be that in the bard, dragons see their closest kindred spirit in the human world. All bards will know at least one of the dragon tongues and because of their constant search for old lays and ballads and their use of dragon magic, dragons find they can hold learned discourse with a bard. Even the dragons of evil bent will initially withhold their animosity when a bard is involved. And bards always feel the same about dragons! This does not mean that they will withhold their support if purposefully attack but they will always try to find a way to avoid combat with a dragon if at all possible.

Now how do I know all this! Why because I am Hawkwind, a Bard of Jarn! If lucky, you may catch me and a few of the characters wandering about the Texas Renaissance Festival! Also a written history of my wanderings it coming to print. Check out Writings on this site for more information.

Individuals interested in more information about the Bards of Jarn, please E-mail me at:
Hawk@hawkwindnovels.com

Return to Bard's College

Hawkwind, the Bard is a ©  copyrighted character for the series of novels of the same name by Granvil A. Pennington. Companions of the Hawk© iUniverse.com is a  copyrighted title for Book 1 of the Hawkwind the Bard novels. All world rights reserved. Midi Music is a Celtic traditional Scottish ballad.

The terms TSR, AD&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Forgotten Realms, and Gen Con are all registered trademarks of TSR, Incorporated. All rights reserved.